


Uniting Nations

by TrashQu33n



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24744766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrashQu33n/pseuds/TrashQu33n
Summary: The story follows Aki, an orphan and her experiences with Team Avatar
Relationships: Zuko (Avatar)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

I'll cut right to the chase. I'm Aki, I'm 16, I live on the streets and I'm not a bender. I pickpocket and steal to survive for as long as I could recall. The story of how I ended up here is the story of a lot of others. My village was burned down and family died. I didn't need to explain or ramble.

I lived in a town with a lot of foot traffic. Traders, some nobles and some fire nation soldiers who don't pay enough attention. Usually the nobles the nobles will throw coins if you so much as glare at them. Traders usually are more resilient but in crowds they're easy to pick pocket.

Now the fire nation soldiers are tough, but the loot they have is usually pretty good. I've learned to fight and avoid their attacks. However, their presence has increased. I can only guess due to the Avatar. Word has traveled that he was in the Earth Kingdom.

Many people were gossiping at the thought. Some good, some bad. "Hey Aki, think the Avatar will have any good loot?" Hiro, another street kid asked. "Maybe, but I think we should focus on the nobles, its traveling season." I said, rifling through the tossed produce of the day.

"Come on, he could have like some crazy expensive avatar stuff. We could finally eat at a restaurant." He flopped on his back. "Yeah, but what if he goes crazy strong Avatar on us. I can handle the fire nation guards, but not that." I put the least damaged food in the basket and tossed a moldy cabbage at him.

"Hey! Aren't you tired of this? I want to strike a big haul and finally stop eating trash soup!" He said, tossing it back at me. "Hey, before I started cooking, you just ate trash!" I picked up another cabbage and hurled it at Hiro. He dodged it and it hit a guy in a passing group.

"Hey, who threw that!" He yelled. He began to look around and spotted me. I grimaced and turned to Hiro, but he ran off. The guy began to march over to me and I began to talk. "Hey, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to-" "Sokka, stop! I'm sure it was an accident!" A girl said.

A girl and a boy followed behind him. "Yeah, let her explain." A boy wearing orange clothes. Sokka who had tanned skin and wore water tribe clothes glared at me. "Sorry, I was arguing with my friend and I threw that cabbage. Guess I gotta work on my aim." I tried to laugh it off but Sokka wasn't buying it. "And where is this so called 'friend'?"

"Sokka, don't be rude. Sorry about my brother. Hi, my names Katara and this is Aang." She said. "Hi, sorry to make such a bad first impression." I said. "Don't worry, usually we're the ones who do that." Aang said. "Hey, since you live here, do you recommend any inns?"

"Well, a lot of inns will over charge you. Actually, if you want, we have a camp around here. It's not the fanciest, but we have beds and don't charge. Plus I'm a pretty great chef." I offered. "Hold on a minute. Group huddle!" Sokka said. They muttered for a bit, occasionally looking back at me. Once they were done, Sokka cleared his throat and spoke up.

"As generous as your offer is, we'll take our business elsewhere." Sokka said, he began to walk away, but I spoke up. "Well, considering he's the Avatar, I think you'd best stay away from populated areas where the fire nation soldiers are." He stopped and turned to me.

"What? You know he's the Avatar?!" Aang and Katara exchanged worried looks with each other. "Well, sure he's wearing a head covering, but his clothes are a bit out of place. Also considering when you were huddled, I heard you calling him the Avatar. I have good hearing." I folded my arms and waited for a reply.

They huddled again and this time Aang spoke. "We'd love to join you!" "Great! Since we have an honored guest, I'll make a feast!" I picked up the basket of food and they all made disgusted face.

The camp was in the forest surrounding the town. It was made up of ramshackle huts and and lean to's. People from ages 5 to 70 lived here. Some were refugees, those who had no where to go and orphans. We all looked out for each other. Some did odd jobs around the town to make money, some sell goods, some forage. Only a few are skilled enough to successfully pickpocket.

As we walked in the camp, Hiro walked by. "Hey, you didn't die. And you brought guests." I took out a pouch of money I had been saving and handed it to him. "Hiro, can you get some meat? The cheapest you can and get a lot." "You got it, boss!"

"So what is this place? Are you the leader?" Katara asked. "Well, this camp is where people who are down on their luck stay. Some are just passing through, others are permanent residents. I myself am an orphan. I don't run the place. We all contribute. But I am the best chef."

We walked through and a group of children ran up to me. "Aki, what's for dinner?" A girl asked. "Well, soup like always, but tonight we'll have meat!" They all cheered and ran around proclaiming the news. "Usually we have vegetable soup, but since you're an honored guest I'll go out!"

"Actually, I'm a vegetarian." Aang said sheepishly. "I'm sorry, don't worry. I'll make sure no meat touches you!" "Speak for yourself, now what kind of meat are we talking?" Sokka asked. "Well, depends on what my friend gets. I'll show you to where you'll be staying."

I kept my tent clean and organized so I led them to it. "Wow, I'm surprised it's so clean!" Sokka said, earning a kick from Katara. "Sorry about him, its lovely." They set down their bags. "Um, what's your policy on animals?" Aang asked. "Some people do have pets, I know you have your lemur and that's fine." "Actually, there's something bigger..."

A flying bison landed on the ground, causing me to fall. "Is it alright?" I was speechless. I slowly stood up and approached the bison. I held out my hand and pet the large animal. "I-I thought they were extinct." I smiled and hugged his head. "His name is Appa. So, he can stay?" "Of course! I have so much to ask about him!" I was gushing when I felt a tug on my pants.

"Aki, Hiro's back." One of the children said. "Thanks, sweetie. You guys can wander around here. I'll be making dinner if you need me."

I walked to where we prepare dinner and saw Hiro with two big baskets of fish. "Finally some good food." He said. "Haha. Can you get some help so we can make dinner." "So why all the fuss?" I looked around and made sure it was only us. "The kid in the orange...is the Avatar." I heard a crash and Hiro dropped a bowl. "What!?"

I shushed him. "What are you doing? I know I talked about robbing him, but I wasn't serious! What if the fire nation found out! We could all be killed!" He began pacing and I spoke up. "I know it's dangerous, but it's the Avatar. He's our only hope. Please, it's not like we're fighting anyone, it'll just be for tonight."

He was silent and began to walk away. "I trust you. I just don't want anyone getting hurt."

After everyone was feed, I made my way to my tent. "Hey, how was your night?" "I gotta say, when I saw the trash vegetables you had, I was skeptical. But that was some great soup." Sokka said. "Yeah, it was amazing." Aang chimed in. "This is a lovely camp. Everyone here is so nice." Katara said.

Everyone laid down to sleep and it was mostly quiet. A few people still around the fire and keeping watch. That was until the alarm bell was rung. I shot up and so did the rest.

"What's going on?!" Sokka screamed. "Somethings wrong. You guys escape on Appa." I ran out before they could protest. "Aki, the soldiers are coming!" Hiro yelled. "Get the children and elderly to our meet up point. Get the earth benders and use the tunnels!"

I then ran towards the shouting. I directed everyone towards the back of camp. When I finally got to the front of the camp. The soldiers began to set many tents on fire. Luckily, they were empty.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" I yelled. "You vagrants have been a thorn in our sides for too long." The head soldier declared. I ran at him and dodged his attacks. I swept my legs and knocked him down. Before he could get up, I knocked him out.

I didn't notice the next soldier come behind me until I felt a rush of wind. I turned and saw Aang. He waved at me and blasted another soldier. I then saw Katara water bending and Sokka fighting with a club. I joined the fight and soon enough the soldiers retreated.

Once they were gone we quickly put out the fires and made our way to the meet up point. Once we got a head count and made sure everyone was accounted for, I made my way the the trio. "I can't thank you enough for your help. Without you guys, I wouldn't have made it out."

"Of course, you've been so kind to us it's the least we could do." Aang said. "Plus you held your own. I know I couldn't have fended them off without my bending." Katara chimed in. "Yeah, us non-benders gotta stick together." Sokka said. I chuckled and then turned to the others.

"Well, I guess we need to move. Now that the soldiers are after us. I just don't know where we'll go." I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Aang. "Don't worry, we'll help." Katara and Sokka smiled and me and I returned the smile.

With their help, we moved the tents to a clearing far away from the town. It was near fresh water and had enough resources to support the group. Once everything was done, we celebrated with fresh food and dancing.

I was watching everything from afar when Hiro came up to me. "Well, I guess our pick pocketing is put on hold." I chuckled. "Yeah, maybe it's for the best." We sat in silence for a while before I spoke up. "I think...I'm gonna ask to go with them."

Hiro turned to me. "What?" "You know I love to help people. I love our group, but I feel like... I feel like I need to go with them. They might not let me. But if they do, I want you to watch over everyone." "I can't change your mind, can I?" "You know how stubborn I am." We hugged and continued to watch the others in silence.

In the early hours of the morning, the trio were packing up to head out. I nervously approached them with my bag in hand. "Hey, come to see us off?" Aang asked. "Not exactly. Listen I know I don't have any bending, but I'm a pretty good fighter. I can also cook for you guys and I want to help people. You're free to say no, but I want to join you guys. Fighting with you guys felt right. Like I was meant to help you. So please, let me join you."

My heart was beating rapidly as they looked at each other. They smiled and turned to me. "Welcome aboard." Katara said, holding out her hand. I smiled and hopped on Appa. "Now listen, because you're apart of Team Avatar, no more trash soup. It was good, but come on, it's the Avatar!" Sokka yelled. We all laughed and I felt like I finally had a purpose.

I looked back to the camp I had called home for so long as they told me the details of their journey.


	2. The Swamp

I was napping when I was awoken by Sokka yelling. "What's going on?" I asked. I noticed we were descending towards the swamp below. "I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think the swamp is...calling to me." Aang said. "Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?" Sokka asked. "Hey, I work with what I've got." I said, turning over the basket that once held our food. 

"No, I-I think it wants us to land there." "No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on." Sokka said. "I don't know, Bumi said to learn earthbending, I would have to wait and listen. And now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"

We looked over the saddle to the vast swamp below. "Yes." "Who's Bumi, again?" I asked. "I don't know. There's something ominous about that place." Katara said. "Is it like a spirit thing? Are we gonna go down and get taken to the spirit world?" I asked. "I hope not." Sokka said.

Appa roared, while Momo hid in the empty basket. "See, even Appa and Momo don't like it here." Sokka said. "Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this, bye, swamp." Aang began to fly higher when a tornado began to approach us from behind. "You better throw in an extra yip. We gotta move."

We tried evading, but the winds were strong. Sokka began to get sucked up, but Katara and I held on to him. Aang then shielded us using his airbending, but we ended up being sucked in. We got flung away and fell into the water below. Well, except Aang who floated down.

We stood up and looked around to see nothing but trees. "Where's Appa and Momo?" Aang jumped up to the top to survey. "Sokka, you got something on your elbow." I said. "Where, where?" He screamed. "Where do you think?" Katara said. "Why do things keep attaching to me?" He yelled.

Aang came back down. "You couldn't find them?" Katara asked. "No. And the tornado, it just disappeared." "So, was it spirits?" I asked. We all looked around, nervously. We moved onward, Sokka taking the lead by cutting through the vines.

"We better speed things up." "Maybe we better be a little nicer to the swamp." Aang said. "Aang, these are just plants. Do you want me to say please and thank you as I swing my machete back and forth?" "Maybe you should listen to Aang." Katara said. "Yeah, this place feels...alive." I said. "I'm sure there are lots of things that are alive here. And if we don't want to wind up getting eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can."

We continued our way through the swamp well into the night. Once we got a fire going, Sokka spoke up. "I'm so hungry, Aki can't you make food?" "I don't know anything about the swamp, I'm not risking it."

"Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" Katara asked. "Please, we're all alone out here." Sokka said, swatting away a bug. Soon the bug lit up, revealing dozens of glowing eyes. "Except for them." I said and we all huddled together.

Before we knew it, we had all fallen asleep, only to be jolted away by being dragged away. I screamed and tried to grab onto anything. Once I got my footing, I pried the vines off. I weaved around to prevent being tangled again. I ran until I managed to outrun them and realized I was all alone. "Aang! Katara! Sokka! Anyone!"

I ended up wandering around until daylight. I came across an open area and saw a figure. "Hey! You there, can you help me?" I walked over to the figure and it turned around. "Dad?" I took a step back. "This isn't real. It can't be." "You're such a disappointment." I clutched my head, trying to drown the voice out. I suddenly heard screaming and was knocked down.

I looked up to see Aang, Katara and Sokka. "Guys!" I yelled out. "What do you guys think you're doing? I've been looking all over for you." Sokka yelled. "Well, I've been wandering around looking for you." "Same here" "I was chasing a girl." Aang said.

"A girl?" I asked. "I don't know. I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress." "Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations." Sokka said. "I thought I saw mom." Katara said, sadly. I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Look, we were all just scared and hungry, and our minds were playing tricks on us." Sokka said. "You saw something too?" I asked. "I thought I saw Yue. Look, I think about her all the time. And you saw mom, someone you miss a lot. Aki, who did you see?" "I saw my dad. Though it was more like he was haunting me..."

"What about me? I didn't know the girl I saw. And all our visions led us right here." "Okay, so where's here, the middle of the swamp?" "Yeah, the center. It's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here. I knew it." We all looked up and saw a huge tree.

"It's just a tree. It can't call anyone. For the last time, there's nothing after us and theres nothing magical or spiritual happening here." Sokka stated and seconds later a huge creature popped up behind us. We all huddled and screamed. It began to try and it us and we all ran in separate directions.

I saw it had Sokka so I looked around to find anything to help. I found a sharpened stone and waited for my chance. Once it stopped I jumped on it to try and cut him out. But the monster batted me away just like Aang and Katara.

Aang and Katara managed to free Sokka, but the monster was in pursuit. After Aang was flung, Katara began to cut the monster using her bending. As the vegetation was cut away, I saw someone in there. "Hey, there's a guy in there! He's bending the vines!"

Finally Aang managed to stop him. "Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?" "Wait. I didn't call you here." The man said. We all looked at each other. "We were flying over, and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land." "He's the Avatar. Stuff like that happens to us a lot." Sokka chimed in.

"The Avatar? Come with me." The man led us to the heart of the swamp and began to explain himself. "I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it, like this fellow with his big knife." He gestured to Sokka. "See, completely reasonable, just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it."

"Oh, the swamp is a mystical place, all right. It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan grove tree. I heard it calling me, just like you did." "Sure you did. It seems real chatty." I elbowed Sokka.

"See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and sink and take root and then spread some more-one big, living organism, just like the entire world." "I get how the tree is one big thing, but the whole world?" Aang asked. "Sure. You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We are all living together even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree."

"But what did our visions mean?" Katara asked. "In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us their not. We're still connected to 'em. Time is an illusion, and so is death." "But what about my vision? It was someone I had never met. " "You're the Avatar. You tell me."

"Time is an illusion, so it's someone I will meet." The man nodded then Sokka spoke up. "Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo." "I think I know how to find them. Everything is connected." Aang placed his hand on the root we were standing on. "Come on, we've got to hurry."

We quickly found the spot where Appa and Momo were. It was quickly put to rest and they invited us to eat at their village. Everything was put to rest and all the mysteries solved, all except the tornado that brought us down.


End file.
